Entertainment

Cosmos' latest episode, "The Electric Boy," blends science with an aspirational tale by focusing on the man who figured out how to turn electrical currents into mechanical motion: Michael Farraday.

Farraday wasn't technically a scientist when he made the amazing discovery. Born into poverty, Farraday didn't have the means to attain the scientific education he craved, but worked his way up to become lab assistant to influential chemist Humphrey Davy, who worked at London's Royal Institution.

It was there that Davy, as a joke, asked Farraday to figure out how to convert electricity into motion. Farraday went on to prove light's close relationship with electricity and magnetism, which provided the bedrock for much of our understanding of the universe today.

Cosmos is the 2.0 version of astronomer Carl Sagan's 1980 series of the same name. The show, designed to inform viewers about different elements of the universe, is hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who is also the director of the New York-based Hayden Planetarium. (Tyson himself was mentored by Sagan.)

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane is the executive producer for Cosmos, which is slated for three more episodes and airs on Sundays at 9 p.m. on Fox.

NASA has tweeted photos to complement nearly every episode's theme each Sunday since Cosmos started in March. Check out our collection of the latest photos, below:

Cosmos Photos Episode 10

The Van Allen Belt is made up of charged particles stuck at high altitudes in Earth's magnetic field.

Image: NASA

NASA uses satellites such as their own Tracking and Data Relay Satellites to relay information in space.

Image: NASA

An aurora, as seen from space.

Image: NASA

Auroras happen when particles of energy leave the Sun and enter the Earth's atmosphere, according to NASA's website. Those energy fragments release other particles in the Earth's atmosphere that then trigger the light show.

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